PONDERING...John 9

John 9:1-41

In this particular passage, I will need to address more verses than usual. This is an amazing passage with much application.

1. A BLIND MAN'S TESTIMONY...AN EXAMPLE FOR US

Remember, we are spiritually blind (vs 39) so this blind man's experience has a lot of application to us.

1. There was a noticeable difference which resulted in opportunities to share the cause.

Is there a noticeable change in your life? Are you aware of the opportunities to share that God is giving you? 

2.  He eagerly shared all he knew...initially and when confronted with opposition.

This man was a memorable personality. Obviously, he left an impression on John because he records a significant amount of his words. He did not speak, however, out of spiritual training. He spoke boldly about his experiences(vs 8-12,15,17,25) and reasoned boldly(vs 30, 33), as well. He was not a man of learning. Yet, God gave him words and he spoke. Even when he was basically abandoned by his parents, who feared exile from the synagogue, and faced reticule from the most respected teachers in his culture, he stood strongly on what God had revealed to him...seeing more clearly than those still in darkness. Are you letting God use you in the opportunities He provides?

2. THE PHARISEE'S PROBLEM...A WARNING TO US 

1. Stuck on the laws of man (Isaiah 29:13    And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,") They were more concerned with their laws than God's. Are you more concerned with tradition, cultural acceptance, or modern tolerance than with the bold, against the grain truths of Jesus?

2. Called their blindness sight, and were stuck in guilt. Jesus condemned them not because they were spiritually blind (we are all born this way), but because they claimed to see and rejected true sight. Are you self-assured in your spiritual condition based on your merit, or do you realize that the only merit you have is that which God has graciously given?

3. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STORY/GOSPEL...THE PURPOSE FOR US 

1. Here is the purpose: that we may believe (John 20:31  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.) We have to remember that John's gospel is all about pointing to Jesus' deity so that we may believe and have life! This story is no different. This blind man received sight...then he received life (vs 35-41)! He believes in Jesus and worships. Then Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are still guilty because they remain blind. Which implies that sight given is connected to the forgiveness of sin, removal of guilt. Sin leads to death; Jesus gives life (Romans 6:23). Have you experienced life?

SCRIPTURE: John 9:1-41  As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  2  And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  3  Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.  4  We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.  5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  6  Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud  7  and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.  8  The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?"  9  Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the man."  10  So they said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"  11  He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed and received my sight."  12  They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."  13  They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.  14  Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.  15  So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  16  Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.  17  So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."  18  The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight  19  and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"  20  His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.  21  But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself."  22  (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)  23  Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."  24  So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."  25  He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."  26  They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"  27  He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?"  28  And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  29  We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."  30  The man answered, "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  31  We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.  32  Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.  33  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."  34  They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.  35  Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"  36  He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"  37  Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."  38  He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.  39  Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."  40  Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?"  41  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.

Ponder, pray, and propagate your perceptions.

-Upchurch

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